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Original Announcement:
Stunning. You might want to rerun the course in slow motion to gape in awe at the Marin Coastline and back at San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the bay. White, short, and standard sprint courses will be offered. For those in the sprint series finals, this could improve your seeding in the tournament, especially if you haven't participated in many sprint series events this year.
Details:
02:00 P.M. Registration open, Pt. Bonita
02:30 P.M. Starts open, Pt. Bonita
04:30 P.M. Last start
05:00 P.M. Courses close
Cost: included if you're registered for the sprint finals, or $10 for adults, $3 for students and juniors if doing it recreationally. Juniors in the BAOC COOL league get free admission with the season pass and should participate in the competitive class.
Terrain:
Pt. Bonita has narrow corridors for navigation - much of the area is coastal scrub, which we shouldn't trample. So, we're exploiting the areas already disturbed by man; mainly, the network of bunkers and military installations set up when this area was used as a coastal defense for San Francisco back in World War II. In between those areas of high detail, you will find some pockets of forest, a network of trails, a few rock features, and jawdropping views all around.
Map:
This is a new ISSOM 2007 Sprint-standard map
made by Rex at a 1:4000 scale with a contour interval of 2.5 meters.
Of note:
1. Do not cross areas mapped as rough open with thick undergrowth -
these are sensitive coastal scrub habitat plants.
2. Do not cross areas mapped as olive green, which indicates
landscaping or other forbidden areas.
3. Thicker black lines indicate uncrossable fences and walls.
4. If you see a mapped building with a light grey section in it, it's
a covered passageway that you can use to pass from one side of the
building to the other.
5. There are two long tunnels and a few short tunnels marked with the
appropriate symbol which will factor into your route planning.
6. Picnic tables, benches, and other small man-made objects are not
mapped.
7. The earthbank symbol is used in a non-traditional way to map steep
slopes that are not easily crossed.
Courses:
1. Sprint - White 1.5 km distance, 50 m climb, 15 controls
2. Sprint - Short: 2.0 km distance, 65 m climb, 12 controls
3. Sprint - Long: 2.3 km distance, 75 m climb, 15 controls
Gear:
Layers are good for before and after your run - it gets windy at Pt.
Bonita. For running the course, it can be done effectively in running
shoes and shorts. O-shoes are a little better though. And you'd
probably appreciate having pants - slight bits of vegetation to get
through, and some of the paths are rimmed a bit tight with
vegetation.
Hazards:
Don't run off a cliff - seriously - the edges of parts of the mapped area are ocean bluffs. One of the trails skirts an ocean bluff. There are some dropoffs in the bunker areas - mapped as uncrossable walls. You shouldn't have to go in the ruined parts of the buildings at all, some of them have stuff like broken glass.
Traffic is light and not fast, but be careful when crossing or running alongside roads.
Poison oak exists here but not in abundance,
and I could not see any on the courses. When mapping and course
setting, I did not do my usual routine of washing down with
dishwashing soap in a lukewarm shower, and I'm fine. Still, be aware
of the "naked" bush form of it. (no leaves.)
Facilities:
Down the road from the starting area is a portable restroom. We will have water and cups. There are also picnic tables and more parking down the road by the portable restroom. If you have time to explore, you can go down the path to the Pt. Bonita lighthouse, but the building will probably be closed. Rodeo Beach is a nice spot too. There's a visitor center for the Marin Headlands that you will have passed on the way to the start area which has some exhibits and more information about what to see and explore.
Directions:
From U.S. Highway 101 coming from San Francisco, take the first exit after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, and turn right onto Alexander Ave. Follow signs for the Marin Headlands and Rodeo Beach. Make a left onto Bunker Ave., and then there is a one-way tunnel - you may have to wait 5 minutes for the traffic signal. After about 2.5 miles on Bunker Rd., bear left onto Field Road (signs for Pt. Bonita, do not go to Rodeo Beach!) After about a half mile on Field Road, after passing the NIKE missle site on your right, make a left onto a very short road, and drive across it straight into a dirt parking lot. If taking U.S. Highway 101 from the North, take the last exit before the bridge for Sausalito, and make a right onto Alexander, then a left on Bunker, and then the same directions.
General directions are available from the National Park Service.
Public Transit:
Contact Rex and he will help you find a ride from a carpool pickup spot.
Event Contact: Rex, 5 1 0 - 6 8 1 - 6 1 8 1, rex@terraloco.com
Map:
New! Scale 1:4000, 5m contours, produced Sept. 2009